Nicknames
by Ayumu Foxtail-chan
Summary: As much as she liked her nickname, she wished he'd call her by her full name every once in a while. Although she guessed 'Luce' was better than 'Blondie McBlonderson'. ―NaLu


**Hi there! Just a quick stupid little fun NaLu one-shot.**

**Enjoy!**

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_**Nicknames**_

Lucy didn't back down as Natsu stared at her, his gaze piercing as he looked into her eyes. She wouldn't step down, not this time. Although, his eyes were so… captivating. Lucy'd been noticing it more and more lately exactly how enrapturing Natsu's eyes were. They sparkled with a sense of danger that made her spine quiver and the hairs on her arms stand on end. She clenched her jaw and refocused herself back on Natsu. This was not the time to let her guard down; she didn't know how he'd react.

Lucy had entered her apartment to find Natsu lounging on her bed, again. It didn't surprise her anymore, and she figured somewhere deep down she'd be worried the day he _wasn't_ there. But when he'd called out his usual, _'Hey Luce!'_ she'd reacted differently.

She loved that nickname he'd given her only a week or so after she'd joined Fairy Tail. Every time he called out to her with that name she'd smile, her heart warming as well as her cheeks, but lately she'd begun to think maybe she'd prefer a different nickname, or maybe no nickname at all. That 'Luce' was platonic, and she knew it. Every time he called out to her with that name, it was as a friend. Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind she thought that maybe if he stopped using that nickname, he'd begin to reciprocate the feelings she held for him. It was a shot in the dark, but she thought maybe it was worth a go.

So she'd plopped down on the couch across from her bed, her face holding discontentment as she described to him that she didn't want him using that nickname anymore. He'd shot up on the bed, his back stiff as a board and his hands on his knees as he eyed her carefully, a sense of complete shock emanating out from him. And that was where they sat, staring each other down to see who would break and ask, or answer, why she didn't want to be called 'Luce' anymore first.

Lucy wasn't going to back down. She just wasn't. And pretty soon she gave herself a triumphant smile when Natsu slouched forward and voiced his own concern.

"You don't want me to call you Luce anymore?" Natsu asked, hurt and worry flashing across his face for a brief moment. "Why?"

Lucy took a deep breath. She wasn't going to just flat out tell him that she believed if he stopped calling her that, that he'd magically start loving her, so she quickly thought up an excuse. "You've been calling me that for so long, I just thought it was time for a change." She shrugged.

The corner of Natsu's mouth turned down into a frown. "But I like Luce."

"C'mon Natsu," Lucy said, her voice holding excitement, "Surely you can think of something better than 'Luce'. It's not very creative. If you're gonna call me Luce, you might as well just call me Lucy," she said with another nonchalant shrug. In all reality she wanted Natsu to call her Lucy more than anything, because then maybe he'd start to take her seriously. Maybe if she just threw out the suggestion of calling her 'Lucy' he'd pick it up. But much to her chagrin, he didn't, instead pulling a finger to his chin and looking up at the ceiling as he seemingly thought to himself.

"A new nickname… maybe it should have to do with your magic…" he trailed off, tilting his head to the side and looking back down at Lucy.

Lucy sighed to herself. It'd been worth a shot. She crossed her legs and leaned back onto the couch, closing her eyes. She peered out at him through her eyelashes as he pondered, her heart beating with excitement. Maybe he'd actually come up with a decent nickname, something that she liked even better than Lucy.

"How about… Starchaser?"

Lucy made a face, "That's terrible."

"Heaven-chop?"

"What? No. Where'd that even come from?" she asked, her eyes fluttering open in surprise. What on Earthland was he doing? That was incredibly random, surely he was kidding. But as she leaned forward to get a better look at him, she realized he was completely serious.

"Y'know," Natsu said, lifting his arm to the ceiling and then quickly swiping it downward, "When you call out your spirits you like, chop the air. Like karate."

Lucy shook her head, "Still a no, try again."

" Lunar Mooner!" Natsu yelled, his face glowing with excitement. Lucy knew he'd thought he'd found a winner.

"NO," Lucy deadpanned loudly. Poor oblivious Natsu probably didn't even understand how wrong that was.

Natsu frowned at her, "You're picky… Shortie."

"Shortie?" Lucy snorted.

Natsu slumped over, "Heard Gajeel say it. I guess it works better on someone like Levy. What about… Pinkie?" Natsu raised his eyebrows, "Your guild mark is pink, your partner's hair is _salmon_ but it's close enough! I think I like it!" he shouted, congratulating himself with a fist pump before Lucy had even responded.

She sighed, "I'm still not so sure. Why don't you just call me-"

"Blondie!" Natsu shouted, "I like that better than Pinkie!"

Lucy took a deep and steadying breath, again reminding herself exactly why she was doing this in the first place. This idiot yelling out names was her idiot, and she was on a quest to get him to take their relationship more seriously, "Natsu, why don't you just call me-"

"Wait no! Blonderific!" Natsu's smile stretched wide as he nodded to himself. "These names based on your hair are pure gold! I think Flare had the right idea," he grinned, his eyes sparkling.

"Natsu-"

"Blonderson!"

"Natsu, c'mon why-"

"Blondie McBlonderson!" Natsu shouted, jumping to his feet and sauntering past Lucy's couch to her fridge without waiting for her response, "Yep! That's the winner. Blondie McBlonderson it is," he said with satisfaction, pulling open her refrigerator's door and peering inside.

Lucy sat on her couch, her back to her partner and her eyes squinted in frustration. She began rethinking this entire endeavor. Luce was not as good as Lucy, but eons better than 'Blondie McBlonderson'. Where had he even gotten that? It was getting worse rather than better. Her hopes of him shrugging and complying with her wishes to call her 'Lucy' had been thrown out the window.

She began to contemplate to herself whether she should consider it a lost cause. Should she just tell him she was kidding and that she loved Luce? It wasn't untrue, she thought it was cute, but she wanted a name that would be… not cute. Loving, but not cute. Of course, the more she thought about it the more she began to realize that for someone like Natsu, a loving name might be impossible. She wasn't even completely sure Natsu would ever be able to reciprocate her romantic feelings, so why did she think that now, when they were only friends, that he'd be able to call her something loving?

She turned and peered over the back of the couch, watching as Natsu frowned into her fridge and shut the door with a displeased sigh. "You could just call me Lucy," she blurted out quickly, a little afraid he'd interrupt her again if she didn't say it fast. She wasn't going to give up on this. She'd come this far, she'd see it through.

Natsu scoffed with a snort, "Why would I call you that? We're not strangers."

"No, we're not," Lucy agreed, her eyes flitting around the room. How could she somehow get her feelings across to him? "But it's a little more serious than Luce."

Natsu's eyebrows knitted together, "I don't want to call you Lucy," he nearly whined, shuffling back over to her bed and plopping down heavily. "You're my partner, we're close, I should give you a little name that only I call you."

Lucy paused, her heart twinging in her chest. The way he'd said that, it was different. It didn't sound like how Natsu normally talked. It didn't exactly sound like a complaining whine, it felt like a hurt whine. Like his feelings somewhere had gotten hurt. Surely not. She wasn't sure if she'd ever seen a time when Natsu had gotten his feelings hurt. She tilted her head, opening her mouth to voice her question, but he beat her to the punch.

"You sure you don't like Luce?" he asked, his eyes wide as he searched hers for answers.

There it was again, he sounded hurt. Could she somehow be mistaken? Or had she seriously hurt his feelings when she'd told him she wanted to ditch her nickname? He'd called her that nearly since the moment they'd become partners, and so she'd figured it was more of a habit he'd need to break than something that he actually enjoyed calling her. It was such a simple name; he hadn't put much thought into it, so why did she suddenly feel so guilty?

Natsu looked down to the floor. "I kinda thought 'Luce' was our special little thing."

Lucy froze. Their special little thing? She hadn't really thought about that. She'd thought of it as a nickname he'd given her on a whim, that he used out of habit, and didn't think much about. She'd thought it was name that he called her because no one else wanted to call her that. She thought it was a friendly name. Never had it ever crossed her mind that that name meant something special to Natsu. She'd thought whatever nickname she would end up with would be important to _her_, but never had she thought it would be important to _Natsu_, the one who gave her the name.

Her eyes softened over at him. She had hurt his feelings because he had believed it was something they shared. Somehow now when she played that name over and over in her head it came across as anything but platonic. It wasn't a name for friends, but a name for someone special. It was a name he'd made for her specially, a name that conveyed how much he enjoyed her presence. She wasn't sure if that exactly meant that Natsu reciprocated the feelings she'd felt for him for so long, but at the moment it was beyond enough for her.

"Natsu," she said softly, "it _is_ our special little thing. Forget I ever said anything." She was glad in that moment that Natsu was someone to let things go easily. His forlorn look disappeared just as fast as it had appeared, a grin stretching across his face. Any normal person would've questioned her further, asking why they should forget she'd said anything when only a moment ago she'd said she wanted to ditch the name. But Natsu was a pure soul, and she was very grateful he was so easily trusting, especially of her.

"Good, I'm glad! You had me worried there for a second, Luce," he laughed, his grin stretching wider as he jolted up from the bed, making it across the gap in one step and crushing her in a hug.

She froze, her arms pinned to her due to his death grip on her. As she sat completely still on the couch her eyes couldn't have gotten any wider, she was sure, but she wasn't protesting. It was nice, in a way. Even though she felt like he'd squeeze her guts out any minute, it was welcome. Natsu'd never given her a sincere hug like this before, and she liked it. She smiled, resting her chin on his shoulder for a moment before he pulled back.

He gave her a devilish grin before asking, "You sure you don't like Blondie McBlonderson better?"

"Natsu!" she yelled, chasing after him as he sprinted toward the door, laughing to himself and covering his head from her attempted smacks.

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**I'd love to hear what you thought of it! Luce is such a sweet little nickname Natsu gave her don't ya think? XD**

**~Foxtail-chan**


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